Community Theatre, Thetford, Vermont.
A young bohemian painter returns to his hometown suffering from a mysterious illness. His mother, Helena, widowed for several years, is funding the building of an orphanage in her late husband’s name with the help of the local pastor, an old flame who has become a reactionary moralizer. In truth she is using her son’s inheritance money to fund the project, as she does not want him to inherit anything from his father, an unfaithful and abusive man. Little does she know, her son has inherited something else...Meanwhile, the local carpenter working on the project schemes to acquire funding for a "Sailor’s Lodging House" (aka a brothel) while trying to lure his daughter to help him run the business. She is seemingly in love with Helena's son and wants nothing to do with her father. But nothing is as it seems.
2026 Ten-Minute Play Festival
We were delighted with the volume of plays and talent of the playwrights. We have reviewed all 700+ of the plays and are delighted to announce the plays for the Festival:
Lit Crit, written by Cherielyn Ferguson, directed by Perry Allison
Bend to the Will, written by Sharon Stein, directed by Perry Allison
Cupcakes for Two, written by Paul Hendrickson, directed by Terry Samwick
Howard, written by Mark Harvey Levine, directed by Terry Samwick
Interplanetary Paul’s Divorce Spectacular, written by Marshall Logan Gibbs, directed by Hetty Thomae
The Friendship Dynamic, written by Alex Dremann, directed by Dorothy Gannon
Mother Tongue, written by Stephen Kaplan, directed by John Langhus
~~ AUDITIONS ~~
Thursday September 3 at 6pm
Saturday September 5 at 10am
Please note the auditions location:
31 Hanover Street, Units 4 and 5, Lebanon, NH (NCCT's new space at the Mall in Lebanon)
Please plan to arrive to auditions 10-15 minutes early if you have not pre-registered
Click here to register for auditions (optional)
Click here to access and read the plays' synopses before auditions (optional)
~~ PERFORMANCES ~~
Thursday-Sunday October 15-25
To learn more, please reach out to Beata at bsirandall@gmail.com
Dramatic Improv Group
Come join us! Parish Players are commencing monthly dramatic improv and theater games sessions. Attendance is free, and folks are welcome to attend whenever they want. Anyone interested should email Steve LeBlanc (sleblancpers@yahoo.com) to be added to the group’s email list and receive information about upcoming sessions.
Dramatic improv is a recognized form that emphasizes grounded, honest, and vulnerable improvised acting. The goal is emotional weight and character portraiture, with any laughs serving as tension breakers rather than the main goal. We will also engage with genre-based improv, Playback Theatre, purely physical improv, various acting exercises, and comedic improv (though that is not the focus of this group). Each session will include a short “theater games” warm up.
We look forward to having fun with you at the Eclipse Grange!
We are an incorporated, not-for-profit, membership theater group based at the Eclipse Grange Theater on Thetford Hill, Vermont, staffed and run entirely by volunteers.
We've been at this continuously since 1966, when Lilla Willey introduced David and Linda Strohmier to Ed and Gillian Tyler. Together, they formed a small group of players and staged Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner at the Thetford Hill Congregational Church -- and the Parish Players was born. In the 60 years since then, we’ve performed close to 200 productions, from classic plays to musical comedy, contemporary drama, and original plays by members of the Upper Valley community.
The Parish Players is an organization dedicated to presenting high-quality dramatic productions created by people who play for the love of the work. We are committed to offering an intimate theater venue that is accessible, affordable, and welcoming to both audiences and artists; challenging participants to stretch their abilities and expanding their understanding of theater and the world it describes; presenting new and challenging works, including those created by local artists; inspiring, encouraging, and supporting the arts and cultures of our communities; and raising expectations of community theater.
